Just a week after New York city councillors passed a bill to ban smoking in parks and beaches, Boston has followed suit.

Two councillors from the city are considering a similar proposal that would see large parts of Boston go smoke free, but still permit people to smoke on pavements.

Councillors Salvatore LaMattina and Felix Arroyo, who both suffer from asthma and have been working with Boston’s asthma task force, plan to reveal their proposal at a city council meeting today.

A thing of the past? Boston city councillors are considering a proposal to ban smoking in public parks and on beaches. A similar bill was passed by the city council in New York last week

‘My concern is the second hand smoke,’ Mr LaMattina said in an interview with WBZ NewsRadio. ‘Second hand smoke kills.

‘I want to be sure that when people go to a park or a beach or public space, that is a smoke-free environment.

‘I saw this happen a few times in a park where somebody lights up a cigarette and the person next to them has to move.

‘I’m hoping that another city councillor in another city will think the same so one day you wont even think about smoking in the park,’ he added.

Smoking in bars and restaurants has been banned since 2003 in New York. But if Mayor Michael Bloomberg signs the proposed bill banning smoking in public parks and beach it would make the city home to one of the widest-reaching bans in the country.

Opinion on the bill was passed with a 36-12 majority but opinion is divided between councillors.

Robert Jackson, a council member who represents West Harlem and Morningside Heights, voted against the bill, reports show.

In an interview with WNYC radio last week he explained that while he recognised the health benefits of a potential ban, he thought it wasn’t the city government’s role to restrict legal activities.

‘I do think that most adults know smoking is not good for your health, just like they know that drinking is not good for your health,’ he said. ‘I just think the government is going too far.’

If Mayor Bloomberg signs the bill for New York it will go into effect at the end of May. Any official action on a ban in Boston would be months away.